Month: March 2018

Ever notice how much beauty surrounds you when you take a moment and pay attention? Beauty is nearly everywhere, as long as you look close enough. Take these sights around the City of Waterbury.

This mural was found near the intersection of Cherry Street and Camp Street. The Mural is painted around the walls of the Pride Cultural Center.

I particularly enjoy this mural because it showcases a powerful message that’s as relevant today as its always been.

Vote, Believe It. One Vote Can make a Difference.

The powerful and colorful image is painted on a deteriorated, cracked, retaining wall in a very worn out part of the city. I cant help but wonder how others interpret the juxtaposition of such a message being displayed in a part of town known for needing the much help.

While researching this mural I encountered an article by the New Haven Register titled

WATERBURY  Out of concrete and paint emerges art. Out of this art rise stories, tourism and lessons in history.

Here’s an excerpt from the article, and the corresponding pictures, as of March 2018.

The cornucopia of color wraps around the PRIDE building, up a side street and creeps back to street level on the walls of neighboring Gabe’s United Tyre.

“We started this here way back in the 1960s during the war on poverty,” said Kay Wyrick, youth adviser for PRIDE, an organization she founded in 1967. “I thought it was a great idea because in them days, the community was run down and looked bad.”

Each mural illustrates a story or lesson that Wyrick hopes passers-by heed.

Black figures and leaders, like the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., stare from a Mount Rushmore-esque mountain on one of the center’s doors.

On the front of Gabe’s United Tyre, a young black girl tugs her elders toward a polling place in a bygone era. The scene continues around the corner, where Union soldiers in blue uniforms stand guard on the wall.

I didn’t grow up in this city, but it’s quickly become my home. I invite you to stop on by, or merely take notice of the public art displayed in your own community and share it with us, we’d love to see your neck of the woods.

So here’s the deal, I’m certainly not a beer snob. I enjoy beers with flavors, and while I can down a few water-like beers (Coronas, Miller Light, Budweiser, etc.) they’re typically not my go-to beers. Like many of you, I prefer thicker, more flavorful brews – but I don’t pretend to know all of the lingo or basics. Sure, I’ve visited my fair share of breweries and ciders (see my review of Angry Orchards back in 2017), and I’ll be visiting a few more this upcoming year, but that doesn’t mean I’m opposed to run of the mill big-beer brands.